


A Lesbian Walks Into a Discotheque

by zemenipearls (ayaanle)



Series: 1970s AU [1]
Category: The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: 1970s, Alternate Universe - 1970s, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Disco, F/F, Ficlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:41:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23264131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ayaanle/pseuds/zemenipearls
Summary: Its 1972. The Vietnam War, Women's Liberation, and the Free Love of the 60s has given way to Disco. We see Nadia Zhabin, the daughter of Eastern Orthodox Soviet immigrants venturing out for her first night at Studio 54, the famous NYC refuge.
Relationships: Tamar Kir-Bataar/Nadia Zhabin
Series: 1970s AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1678108
Comments: 9
Kudos: 32





	A Lesbian Walks Into a Discotheque

**Author's Note:**

> Couple things- I fudged the timeline a bit. Studio 54 didn't actually open until 1977 but this takes place in 1972. But disco as a haven for people of color and lgbtq+ people has always been true and I'm fascinated by it.

Nadia stared. 

She was finally going to Studio 54 in New York City. Her brother was in the cab with her for now - just to make sure she made it okay. Her long blonde hair had been painstakingly feathered, glitter applied on her eyelid. Nadia knew she was considered attractive to men. Tall, blonde, with freckles sprinkled across the bridge of her nose. White. But she had never desired to be someone's housewife. At least not a man's.

Nadia didn't have much hope until Stonewall a few years ago. Then the warehouse parties started in defiance. And here she was in a baby blue jumpsuit cut dangerously low. 

"You can come too," she told Adrik. She looked at him in his typical outfit - corduroy pants with a high waist and polo shirt. His blonde hair had grown out from its military cut and fell down the middle part to his chin. They had similar faces, and Nadia thought he was handsome. But the Vietnam war drafted him and sent him back without an arm.

" That's alright," he said. "I'll be at the bar down the street. Find me when you're done."

She was secretly relieved. He had been changed, while he was there. Nadia didn't know how to help him, so she would do this for herself tonight. 

She passed the bouncer with flying colors and was thrown into a world completely unlike her day to day secretary life.

A mass of bodies dancing in every shade. The built in house lights were like industrial stars, flickering on the ceiling. Energetic music came out of the speakers, and Nadia was both excited and overwhelmed. She saw men dancing with men, and women dancing with women, as Gloria Gaynor's voice warbled on the speakers. She was home. 

Nadia went for a drink to calm her nerves. Last year when she heard this place was opening she begged Marie to check it out with her. Marie had done everything with her - kiss her, love her. But never in public. Not with their overbearing Eastern Orthodox families hounding her to marry Sergei, the nice warehouse owner. Last she heard Marie was pregnant.

She decided to wander by where a bunch of women were watching a gogo dancer, up high on a block and in even higher platform shoes.

Her big afro was perfectly manicured into a round shape, tie front crop top and high waisted shorts showing beautiful dark skin. Something tightened in her chest as the dancer got down on her knees and gave a kiss to one of the women, who gave her a dollar bill. Then she turned her head and saw Nadia.

"Hey baby," she shouted over the music. "First time?"

"Is it that obvious?" 

The dancer gave her a brilliant smile. "We're all welcome here. No matter your shade. No matter who you love."

Then she gave Nadia a lingering kiss as well, before standing up to dance again. Nadia watched how carefree she was, like some black goddess at an altar of worshippers. When she finally felt ready she went to where she saw a group of other women she thought might be like her - on the dance floor.

Dancing no longer had to involve someone else - that was the beauty of disco. The togetherness. The music. The sanctity of the dance floor. It didn't take long for her to be approached by different women and she reveled in it. Attention she  _ wanted _ as opposed to tolerated. There was nothing repulsive when they looked at her nearly exposed chest or traced hands on the small of her back.

Eventually after hours, skin shining with sweat, she went to the bar for a drink. 

"Having fun?" A voice said. Nadia looked over and saw the gogo dancer, drinking water. 

"I didn't know places like this could exist," she confessed. Nadia was sticking to the dance floor but she hears rumors about the sexually free other rooms, and how drugs were given out like candy. But the dance floor was enough for her to feel liberated. "Are you… also…?" She couldn't say it.

"I love everyone," the dancer answered. "What's your name?"

"Nadia. You?"

"My stage name is Augusta Noir. But I'm Leoni." They shook hands. Then the dancer turned back to the bar. "Tamar?"

The barback turned around and all the air went out of Nadia.

She wasn't too tall but Nadia could see the muscles under the rolled up Hawaiian shirt sleeves, showing a sun tattoo. She had on shorts with it and Nadia saw those were muscled too, and so much more attractive than any man in small pants. The woman - Tamar - had hair cut short and it showed off the fine and rounded features of her face, accented by high cheekbones. She was some sort of Asian from what she could tell. Nadia was in love.

"Hey Augusta baby," Tamar said. "You got everything you need?"

"All thanks to you. This is my new friend Nadia - could you keep her fixed up the rest of the night?" Then Leoni turned to Nadia. "This is my good friend. If you ever need to learn about more intimate parties for sappho's girls she's your woman."

Nadia had no idea how to flirt. So she stared. Tamar grinned up at her. "That happens a lot," she said.

"What does?" Nadia asked.

"When newbies see me." The barback gave her another drink. "It's a lot to take in."

"May I be honest?" Nadia said. "You're the most attractive person I've ever seen and I don't know what to do."

Tamar looked surprised. And Nadia didn't understand how, obviously this perfect woman got hit on all the time. "You really think so?"

"Of course." 

They ended up stepping out into the employee's back alley entrance where Tamar pulled her head down and kissed the life out of her. The confidence she exuded, the way she tasted of whatever drink she had earlier. Tamar slipped a hand through the deep v of her outfit and Nadia didn't mind at all. She wanted to take this woman home and she knew nothing about her.

"My shift is almost over after this," Tamar said, tracing a finger under a breastbone. "Want to go to a diner and head to mine?"

"Absolutely," Nadia gasped. Then she remembered Adrik was nursing a beer down the street. "You mind if my brother comes to the diner? He's fine with," she recalled Leoni's words. "Sappho's girls."

"Sure. Some of the dancers like to eat after anyway."

They went back in and this time when Nadia danced, she did it knowing Tamar was watching her. That she was dancing for a woman. A woman who wanted her, who was openly queer. Nadia couldn't say the L word about herself yet. But at Studio 54 she felt more  _ herself _ than ever before. 

At the end they were joined by Leoni, a male dancer named Jesper, and his boyfriend Kuwei, and a couple names she couldn't remember. Leoni had put on a giant fur coat over her admittedly small outfit, and they went to the 24 hour diner where Adrik was already at, with a coffee and book in hand.

Nadia scoot into the booth first across from Adrik, and Tamar went in after her. Leoni sat next to Adrik and Nadia didn't miss the startled look Adrik had, looking the dancer up and down and shifting his missing arm more to the side. 

She didn't pay attention to the conversation - she was so focused on how Tamar looked beautiful even under the fluorescent diner lights. This was the beginning of her new life.


End file.
